Funding for SMEs

Innovation Challenge

Spinverse at the St. Petersburg International Innovation Forum

29 Sep 2012

Today in his speech, Mr Pekka Koponen, CEO of Spinverse Ltd, highlighted the importance of co-operation in high-tech and innovation between Finland and Russia, stating: “Nanotechnology, the atomic-level precision in developing new materials, is predicted to be the most fundamental force for new products in all industries. The area is funded by billions per year, Rusnano being one of the largest individual investors globally.”

“Russia is very strong in physics, chemistry and materials sciences, the fundamentals behind nanotechnology. This is demonstrated by 16 Nobel-laureates by today and thousands of publications from St. Petersburg alone. Many fundamental discoveries in nanotechnology have first been made by Russians, from carbon nanotubes to modern semiconductors. However, these have been patented and commercialized by foreigners”, says Mr Koponen.

Russia is in a process to modernize its industry and build its innovation environment to bring its scientific capabilities to market. International co-operation is elementary to reach this target. Best practices in patenting; product development, business planning, international marketing, and financing are needed to bridge current gap between science and business. Global partner networks secure filling the remaining competence and market gaps.

The Finnish Russian Innovation Alliance on Nanotechnologies is a powerful knowledge and business hub

The Finnish Russian Innovation Alliance on Nanotechnologies is funded by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign affairs under the Finland’s cooperation with its Neighboring areas Programme. The Alliance provides an effective platform for creating new businesses in its first phase between Russia and Finland and in its later phase, between Russia and the EU.

Today Spinverse is pleased to announce that 12 leading universities and research institutes have joined the Finnish-Russian Innovation Alliance on Nanotechnology, adding their high-level profile competences to the Alliance on both sides of the Finnish-Russian border.

The Innovation Alliance’s member organizations include:

From the Finnish side: Aalto University, Lappeenranta University of Technology, University of Helsinki, Tampere University of Technology, University of Turku and VTT

From the Russian side: St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University, St. Petersburg Academic University (AURAS), St. Petersburg State University of IT, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO), St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University (LETI) and Ioffe Physical Technical Institute

As noted, high-level scientific research forms the basis for nanotechnology. The above mentioned esteemed community of universities and research institutes provide the Alliance their cutting edge knowledge and innovations. Their technological innovations are examined case by case and best commercialization path, licensing or new company creation is chosen. The process is driven by the needs of the companies joining the Alliance.